Sponsored by: Archaeological Institute of America
The Classic Maya civilization (200-950 CE), faced many environmental challenges, including those wrought by climate change. Researchers today understand that the breakdown of Classic Maya society was the result of many long-term processes. Yet the story that continues to grip the public imagination is that the Maya civilization mysteriously “collapsed”. In this lecture, I draw on archaeological, environmental, and historical datasets to provide a comprehensive, yet accessible, overview of Classic Maya human-environment relationships that shifts the focus from collapse to resilience.
Stone lecture